I had the honor to meet John H. "Lucky Luckadoo, a B17 pilot with the "Bloody Hundreth", at the La Fiere Drop Zone on June 3, 2012 during the 68th Anniversery of D-Day.
John Luckadoo (left), here the 350th Operations Officer and William D. DeSanders at the completion of their tours. The mission was the February 13, 1944 NOBALL #120 (NOBALL was a code name for attacks on the Germany V1 launching sites.)
On this mission Luckadoo flew as the Command Pilot with the DeSanders crew. Since Luckadoo was Command Pilot this indicates the 350th led the 100th on this mission.
Lucky claims that his nickname finds merit in his completion, or more appropriately "survival", of twenty-five combat missions over Europe, an accomplishment tragically unachieved by so many of his friends. An examination of the 100th’s abysmal survival rate through twenty-five missions validates the Group’s bloody nickname as well.
Story by John Luckadoo at
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